The rules completely collapsed at this moment.
The Hell Road, which originally required a hundred accumulated victories to open, now devoured everything around it like a greedy monster, indiscriminately.
The Fallen Ones in the stands screamed and cried as they were sucked into the vortex, instantly ground into blood mist and turned into fuel for activating the altar.
Tang San and Han Yuchen, at the center of the vortex, bore the brunt of it.
"Hold on tight!"
The instant their bodies lost balance, Leng Yuebai shouted in a low voice.
With a sharp sweep of her left hand, a long ribbon of condensed starlight—[Star Radiance Heavenly Silk]—shot out, wrapping precisely around Han Yuchen's waist while its other end coiled around Tang San's arm like a spirit snake.
"Don't resist. Go with the current!"
The three of them were instantly swallowed by darkness.
The sensation of weightlessness lasted for the time it took to burn an incense stick. When their feet finally touched solid ground again, the sight before them made even the well-read and knowledgeable Tang San draw in a sharp breath.
This was not the legendary scorching, narrow Hell Road at all.
There was no lava, no narrow bridge.
Before them stretched a boundless wilderness.
The ground was a mixture of dark-red flesh and black rock. It felt soft beneath their feet, and foul-smelling fluid seeped out whenever they stepped on it.
There was no sun in the sky, only rolling clouds of green poisonous mist, with purple-black lightning occasionally flashing through them.
"Where is this?" Leng Yuebai guarded Han Yuchen's side warily, her short blade held across her chest.
"A contaminated Hell Road. Or perhaps it would be more fitting to call it 'Purgatory.'"
Han Yuchen released the Star Radiance Heavenly Silk and dusted off his sleeve, his